Development of Mitochondrial Replacement Therapies

Positive impacts on human health can occasionally arise from adopting techniques and approaches developed for entirely different purposes. Mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT), also referred to as mitochondrial donation, is an example. Its origins date back to the development of embryo micromanipulation techniques in the 1980s. These techniques, originally designed to investigate how the nucleus and cytoplasm interact to instruct the process of embryonic development, are now on the cusp of being introduced into the clinic as the only realistic hope for preventing the propagation of a debilitating set of genetic diseases. While there is little doubt that the risk associated with carrying out these long-established techniques is far outweighed by the clinical impact of preventing genetic disease, their adoption represents an unprecedented level of intervention in early human development. The authors reassess development of the technologies using a lens which may inform and improve their adoption into clinical practice.